Baby Monitor
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: Oh, so what? Now suddenly it's your fault if you accidentally eavesdrop on someone? What kind of backwards world is that? - One-shot.


Two months out and Paul felt piteous.

It wasn't as if he weren't expecting that either. Because he certainly had been. The man had, after all, injured his quad once before, back in '01. It had been shit back then too. He got stuck up in some hotel for seven months with little to no contact with anyone other than his family and the few people that thought to stop by.

Hell. It had been hell.

A shifting on the bed beside him reminded him of the one person that, back in '01, put no thought in stopping by. None at all. Rather, she just did it without any. Just because she felt that she needed to. Because she wanted to. She wanted to take care of him. Loved to do it.

And, at the moment, Stephanie was having to go pretend to love to take care of something else.

That was the thing. With his first injury, yeah, it'd sucked, because he was in the middle of a rather important storyline, but that was just business. Which was important as all get out to him, but still at the end of the day, was of rather minimal importance. His second one, however, happened to occur five months after the most important thing in the world to him.

The birth of his first child.

Aurora.

Gosh, Paul had never been more ecstatic than when she was born. It was just the idea, really, that he'd made that. That he'd created that. That she was his and no one else's.

Other than, like, Steph, but pretty much all his, he figured.

It didn't mean that things were always great. That it wasn't annoying, at times, getting up in the middle of the night, having no rest, but needing to deal with work things or go to the gym or even when he was away from the baby and Steph, which left his kinda happy, as he'd get some well-deserved rest, but also a bit sad, because it was lonely, without Rora there.

Those first five months were just great, was the point.

Then, during the New Year's episode of RAW, he tore his second quad.

There had been a fear, the last time, of the unknown. He didn't know if he could come back from such a horrific injury. And, yes, it was plenty of hard work, but when he finally got back to the ring, it all paid off. And boy was he pumped up about it.

The next time around, however, he knew it was possible. That someone could come back from it. Problems laid rather, that time, in the fact that he knew for sure just how hard it was going to be to come back. And just how much of his time that it was going to consume. With a baby and a wife to worry about then, plus the fact that he was older and therefore wouldn't heal as quickly, made him perhaps even more nervous than before.

And what if he wasn't able to that time? Come back? Wouldn't that be embarrassing to admit? After he'd already proven that yes, a wrestler could recover from such a thing, not being able to do so once more would just be flat out mortifying.

What would it look like for the Game to be taken out by, well, the game?

So, while he waited for his quad to heal so he could begin his rehab, Paul was in a pretty sour place. Which was how he felt as he laid there, listening to Steph grumble under her breath as she pushed up out of the bed, heading out to go take care of the soft whines they could hear down the hall, echoed through the baby monitor beside the bed.

Considering he couldn't be of much help at the moment (Paul was still either stuck in a wheelchair or crutches), the man didn't move in the slightest, as not to let on that he was up. Then Steph might, like, bring Aurora back to him or something, to tend with her in their room, and Paul just wasn't feeling that at the moment.

He listened though, as he laid there silently, to Steph stumble a bit, out of the room and down the hall.

"Oh, baby, what's wrong?"

Steph. Her voice was coming through the baby monitor. Paul almost reached over and turned it down, but it was all the way on the her nightstand, on the other side of the bed, and he was also worried that if he turned it down and fell back to sleep, then Steph wouldn't know, it would stay off and then…

Well, he wasn't sure what would happen then, as they typically could hear Rora with or without it on, but it just felt like it would be a bad move.

Plus, he was far too lazy.

That was a big one too.

"Come here, Rora," he heard Steph coo as he threw a hand over his eyes and wished she'd be quieter. Both of them. "Awe." Stephanie yawned then before asking, "Are you wet? No? Well, I know you're not hungry, are you?"

"Steph," Paul groaned though, of course, it was useless, as baby monitors only worked one way. "Just be quiet."

It took a moment or two for this to happen. Paul couldn't tell really what they were doing, honestly, as Aurora continued to sob, but Stephanie didn't speak at all. After a groan though, Stephanie did speak again.

"Okay, so you're not wet and you're not hungry," she said, no doubt having doubled checked both of these. "Then are you cold? Huh? Or did you just want me?"

That was what Paul figured. The baby had just been up, an hour ago, and gotten fed as well as changed, so chances were those were out. Not that those were the other options. Was she too hot? Too cold? Bored? In need of attention? Did her tummy hurt? Did her head hurt? Was she tired but not so tired that she could fall asleep? Did she have a bad dream?

That last question he asked himself made Paul open his eyes, blinking.

Did babies have dreams? And if so, could they have bad ones? Wouldn't every dream that babies have be bad dreams, considering they didn't understand the world and therefore anything they dreamed up, being of the world, would be scary and unfamiliar? Or did they dream of their parents snuggling them or feeding them? Did she dream of him? He hoped she dreamed of him.

He dreamed of her.

"You wanna go walk around the house?" Steph offered then, through the baby monitor. "Come on. Would that make you feel better?"

Nope.

Paul laid there, on his beck, listening as Steph drifted throughout the whole house, carrying the sobbing Aurora with her. It was annoying to him, but knew it was just as annoying, no doubt, to his wife.

He loved Aurora. Would give his life for Aurora. But damn she picked the worst times to be inconsolable.

Although...he wasn't really certain there was a good time to be inconsolable either. So Aurora couldn't be blamed.

Not that he ever would blame her to begin with. No way.

"Aurora, please go to bed."

Steph was back. After a good twenty minutes of aimlessly walking around the house, she was back in the nursery, where the baby monitor relayed all of her words to her husband. He would have groaned, had he not been mostly out of it at that point. Aurora's crying wasn't helping lull him off, not at all, but his exhaustion was beating out his need to care for his baby.

"I know you don't have much to do in the morning, but believe me, I have so much to do. And if there's honestly nothing wrong with you, then I'd really appreciate it if you calmed down."

She was talking in that weird pitch that she used around the baby that he told her would only confuse his poor baby, as she'd think that that was how people truly spoke. To which Stephanie would usually make some sort of retort about the tone that _he_ used around the baby and, no. Just no. He did not use a tone.

No way, no how.

He talked to his baby like the normal human she was. So there.

A loud groan came from the baby monitor, one that Paul wished to echo. Steph made the cutest groans usually, when she was annoyed or tired or frustrated, but the one that she let out then was pure enervation.

Paul felt for both his babies then.

"Oh, Rora," Steph griped as Paul heard the rocking chair creak over the baby monitor, his wife no doubt sinking into it. "Please, baby, just go to sleep."

She couldn't.

She _wouldn't_.

Singing was what came after another ten minutes. It was soft over the baby monitor, as Steph was more or less mumbling it, but audible. She wasn't singing anything he knew, probably some stupid song off the radio, but it did nothing to calm the child either way.

She worked through a few songs as Paul drifted in and out of consciousness. After a (piss poor) rendition of Hero of the Day (Metallica was what he'd had playing on the stereo when she got home), Stephanie seemed to grow tired of singing, as it wasn't helping anyways, and took to talking softly to Aurora again.

"I have, like, all these things to do up at the office tomorrow, baby," Steph breathed softly, over the monitor. Aurora wasn't sobbing anymore, but was still making muffled whines as her face was no doubt pressed against Stephanie's shoulder. "And you and your daddy are going to do a bunch of stuff too, I'm sure." She paused. Then hummed. "Not much, I guess, actually. I know that Daddy's been pretty sad recently, huh?"

Paul was no longer fading at all. Not out of it in the slightest. Completely in. He was in it.

"Mmmm." Steph hummed a lot, when she was trying hard not to yawn. "You know that though, don't you, Aurora? Huh? You're such a good baby. You make Daddy feel so much better, huh? Or you try to? He loves you. You know that, huh?"

Was Steph doing it on purpose? Did she know that he could hear her?

And if she didn't...was he wrong for listening to it?

"It's hard, right now, for him." That time there was no hum. Stephanie full on yawned. "You just have to ignore it when he snaps. Or I guess I do. No one snaps at you, do they, baby?"

Steph must have tried to tickle or bounce the baby or something of the sort, as whatever it was that she did ticked Aurora off and her loud cries started up once more.

Groaning himself then, Paul finally shoved out of bed, grabbing the crutches that rested up against his nightstand while he was at it.

It was time, finally, for Daddy to finish things.

"Let me have her, Steph."

She was startled too as the man came into the darkened bedroom. The only light on was the nightlight that she'd flipped on, but it was enough for the two of them to gaze at one another, her from the rocking chair, him from the doorway, where he only leaned against his crutches, staring in at her.

"Did she wake you?" his wife asked as, even in the dim lighting, he could see how red her eyes were. "I'm sorry. She's just-"

"Wanting the most amazing person in the world." He hobbled further in. "I know."

"Paul-"

"Get up then." He came right over to the chair. "Let me sit down and then give her to me; Daddy can fix this."

She didn't want to, he could tell, but slowly Stephanie got to her feet. "Well, I don't see what it will help. And I still have to stand here, to put her back in her crib, when you're finished, so-"

"Go get water or go to the bathroom or take the dog out. Somethin'." Paul fell into the chair rather hard and Stephanie gave him a look of sympathy. Just as she was beginning to suggest that, maybe, he go back to bed, the man said, "Now give me my baby. We need some alone time, huh?"

Rora wasn't very happy with Paul either, as she was shifted into his arms, but he only held her out from him, so that they could stare one another in the eyes. Stephanie watched with a frown, but, after telling him to get her when he needed her, she left the room.

Frowning at his baby as she scrunched up her face, apparently not taking any comfort in him being so close to her, the man spoke.

"You ain't too happy with us tonight, are you, Aurora?" Paul shifted to set her up on his good thigh, leaning down while he was at it to kiss her head. "You ain't sick, are you? Because that would suck." Her cheek got a kiss. "That's what you should tell your sickness. Suck it." Another kiss. "Suck it. First words. Promise me." Another kiss. Then, with one last loud moan, the baby gave up a bit, falling back against his chest. "There you go. Surrender?"

More like too exhausted to fight anymore. Whatever it was that she wanted didn't seem important anymore as she shut her eyes and, before Steph even got back, fell asleep.

"See?" he taunted in a hushed whisper as, with a roll of her eyes, Stephanie came to take their daughter from his lap a bit later. "She just needed me."

"Oh, whatever." Stephanie quickly went to place the child back in her crib. "She was just finally too tired to cry anymore. It was a coincidence that you were the one holding her when-"

"Coincidence," he snorted. "More like serendipitous."

"Alright. That's fine. It still means that it was by chance, so I really don't know why you'd say that, but whatever."

Mainly because he hadn't been completely certain what serendipitous meant. Still, he only struggled to get to his feet as well, needing the use of the crutches to do so. Stephanie glanced over her shoulder at him, as if worriedly, but he only grinned.

"Go on to bed," he said after the woman had gotten their sleeping daughter settled. "I gotta take a leak."

"Oh, gross, Paul."

Still, he hobbled off to do that as, with a roll of her eyes, she did rush off to go fall into bed.

She was, after all, deathly tired.

So was, Paul, but after using the guest bathroom and going into the kitchen to get a drink of water, he couldn't help but to check on Aurora once more.

"Again, Rora?" he griped a bit at the sight of her lying there, eyes open once more, face pensive. "You ain't cryin' though, so I guess that's a plus."

Unable to do anything other than just stare down at her, as he was leaning against his crutches, the man grinned widely at his baby. He wasn't sure if she could tell the difference in a smile as oppose to a frown, but it made him feel better, to think that she could.

"You gotta go to sleep, baby," he informed the child because he couldn't just leave her there. Even if she wasn't upset any longer, just knowing that she might get that way again kept him awake. He didn't want Stephanie to have to get back up again and, honestly, if standing there was able to quell the child and keep that from happening, then he'd have no problem with standing there all night.

Err, well, he'd have a problem with it, but he'd do it.

But she didn't want to then, it seemed. Paul figured that they'd entered that dreaded overly-tired state, where she was very much so sleepy, but so sleepy that the act of falling asleep was too much work. It was a very delicate situation, to say the least.

Shifting most of his weight to his good leg, Paul balanced on one crutch as he reached down, holding a finger out to Aurora. It only took her a moment to grab onto it.

Voice low, he said, "You don't think Daddy snaps too much, do you?"

And Paul breathed, softly, after he asked that, listening hard to see if he could hear Steph move around in the bedroom. It was either too far away or she was already passed out. He knew if she heard it over the monitor, the way he'd heard her, he'd have gotten some sort of reaction.

Still, to the child then, he added, "Because if I do, I don't mean it. I'm just… There's a lot going on right now, is all. You know that. And I love you. Even when I'm acting like a jerk." Then he frowned. "Uh, Aurora. I love you, Aurora, is what I meant. I mean, not that I don't love you too, Steph, but… This is weird. How did you manage to talk to me through the monitor and not get all confused? Talking to someone else while really speaking to someone else is just… I dunno, Steph. Let's not do this again. Steph?"

He heard nothing in the house though, not even Bluto moving about. That time he was certain that she truly was sleeping.

Well damn. He was hoping to at least embarrass her, revealing he'd heard her over the monitor. Or come off sounding really cute and cheesy, all while smoothing over whatever feelings she was apparently holding over his attitude recently.

Instead, he basically just blabbed on about nothing to Aurora who seemed most concerned with trying to suckle on his fingertip.

"Are you hungry now? Finally?" Laughing softly to himself, Paul wiggled his finger free of her before hobbling off, down back to the kitchen, where he prepared a bottle for his baby. It was a good thing he'd slept in some pants that night, as he had a pocket to put the bottle in once it was made, so that he could bring it back to her.

"Here you are, princess." He leaned, once more, against his good side as he retrieved the bottle from his pocket and moved to gently present it to his daughter. She was getting pretty good at holding it all on her own, but Paul held it to her lips for her, at first, because he enjoyed it. Then, slowly, he removed his hand as her own tiny ones came up to cup the bottle.

Laughing, because just watching her do such...real things (which was basically all the things she did other than lie around and sleep) was amazing, Paul stood over her until she was done with her bottle. Then, taking it from her, he smoothed back the baby's hair, mumbled some things softly to her, and waited until she fell asleep to head off to bed himself.

Bluto had jumped up on the bed, in Paul's spot, but he only grabbed the dog by the collar and drug him back down to the floor. The mastiff didn't put up much complaint (he knew the drill); only went to go lie back down at his spot by the door. He slept in bed with Steph, when Paul was gone, and mistakenly thought the man had left for the night (or something), but knew his place, when the man was around.

Settling into bed, Paul let out a soft breath, staring up at the ceiling rather than over at his wife. He'd been dog tired for the past two hours of dealing with Aurora (well, mostly listening to Steph deal with her, but whatever), but walking around had rejuvenated him a bit. He was planning on lifting some weights in the morning (he couldn't do full body workouts, but that was no excuse to let himself lose definition up top) and needed his sleep, but…

Stephanie shifting over on her side of the bed caught his attention. She was turning to face him and, languidly, snuggle up close to his chest.

"Mmmm," he moaned, an arm coming to rest over her. "Thought you were sleeping."

"Without you?" she mumbled, pressing a kiss to his chest. "Never."

"Better not," he chuckled though her eyes were already shutting again and they both were drifting off once more. "Steph."

For a minute or so, it was silent and Paul, just from the feeling of her so close, could feel the need for sleep sink in once more. His breathing was just evening out when, suddenly, Steph began talking.

"For a man," she sighed, "that can talk into a mic all day long, you sure are super awkward over a baby monitor."

His eyes opened. Then he frowned.

"I knew you were eavesdropping. I-"

"I was because you were speaking to me," she defended. "You're the one that, apparently, was eavesdropping on me." Then she tsked. "I can't believe that you would sink as low as to-"

"It was your fault! You knew the monitor was in there." Then he frowned. "How have I never heard you before?"

"I usually turn down the receiver in our room," Steph muttered against his chest as one of her hands gently stroke his taunt stomach. "When I leave to go get her. So it doesn't wake you up."

Paul's chest rose and fell quickly as he took in a deep breath before letting it right back out. "You do a lot for me."

"Oh, shut up. I don't want to really-"

"And if sometimes I get...annoyed, I just-"

"I said that I don't want to-"

"You know I love you, Steph."

That got her to be quiet. Then, pushing up just a bit, the hand in the center of his chest pressing down, she stared up at her husband with wide, blue eyes. "I know."

"And things haven't been great recently. I...haven't been great. I can't do the things that I want to do because of this damn injury and sometimes, I take it out on you. I'm sorry. I just-"

"Paul, stop it."

"No. If you weren't joking around, before, and you really didn't know that I could hear you then… Fuck, Steph, you're just the only person besides myself that I can get angry with."

"I know. It's fine."

"But it's not." He'd been lifting his head, just a bit, to stare down at her, but it dropped back into his pillow then. "I just… I dunno. It's just going to be hell, trying to get back out there again and I… You know that I love you."

"Of course." She smiled up at him. "You wouldn't treat me that way if you didn't."

Paul's head was still resting on the pillow, but his eyes did focus downward then, towards her. "You treat me too well."

"Now that," she hummed, relaxing once more, though this time her head rested on the bed, lips brushing his side, "is a statement I can get behind."

"You have your own shit going on," he went on. "I mean, we have Rora and you got all that company stuff and our families are still, you know, alive, they're not just taking a break from their lives because I am, and they need attention and time and then you have your...dog-"

"Our dog."

"-and just...your stuff. Your own stuff. Whatever. To add me onto all of that-"

"You're on there either way," she breathed softly against his flesh. It tickled a bit, but he made absolutely no complaints. "And I'm the one that told you that you don't have to fake for me. That you don't ever have to fake for me."

In any other context…

"I know," he sighed. "I just… I should try harder, not to snap at you so much. To get annoyed so easily. I don't even realize I'm doing it until I've done it. Like this morning with-"

"It was fine, Paul. I'm the one that-"

"No, Steph, that's what you're not getting. I usually don't get annoyed with you over little things. Or if I do, I don't mention it."

"I like to pretend you just don't, thanks."

That got him to let out a slight laugh. "I just don't want you...or Rora to think that I'm just a grouch now and that's just the way it's going to be. It's not. I'm just...depressed, I guess, is all."

"Oh, Paul." She patted his stomach. "You're not depressed."

"Uh, I don't think that's how you respond to something like that. I think it's the exact opposite."

"Depression," she clarified for him, "is when you feel low and down and can't get out of bed because there's something off, but you don't know what it is. You know what it is. You're just sad. And disappointed. Disparaged. You're disappointed and disparaged, but it's understandable. You just have to...to… Mmmm, baby, the morning, okay?" His side got a tender kiss. "Please? I'm dying."

"Sleep, Steph." The hand he had resting on her hip came up to stroke her hair gently. "I'm fine. Just wanted you to know that I was serious about that shit. That's all."

"Don't turn cute moments into meaningless talks by calling them shit." She rolled away from him then, but kept her back pressed against his side. His arm was trapped under her and he knew he'd need to pull it out, but it felt too good, for some reason, so he didn't. And it wasn't completely comfortable for her either, his muscular arms there, pressing into her side, but there was something comforting about it to her too.

"Make sure I get up when the alarm goes off. Huh? Steph?"

"Of course. Someone's got to get Aurora ready for the day."

"Right. You."

"But who's going to sit with her while I get ready?"

Heh.

"If that baby's up at her normal time," he grumbled slightly, "after keeping us up all night-"

"She's a McMahon, Paul."

"Levesque, but go ahead."

"We always meet our appointments."

"Then I'm canceling it," he grumbled.

"Last minute?"

"This exact one."

Steph moaned a bit, out of exhaustion, before whispering, "Aurora loves you."

"I love her."

"I love you."

Smirking in the darkness, he said, "I love you too, babe. You know that. Just got trouble showin' it sometimes."

"No, you don't." She was fading though, he could tell. "You're so… Mmmm."

"Let's go to sleep, baby." Drifting off himself, finally, truly, he added, "Before the other baby wakes us up again."


End file.
